Trick-or-Treating (9)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

I went way, way back in the archives today to find some cute pictures of my boys dressed up for trick-or-treating--back to a time when my husband and I were still relatively new parents, and our boys were round-cheeked cherubs who were shorter than we were and just beginning to understand what this crazy holiday is all about.

Here's one from 1985 that makes me smile:

Son #1 (2) is a jack-o-lantern, obviously.  Son #2 (9 mos.) is a...well, what do you think he's
supposed to be here?

My firstborn is wearing the same costume that I'd made for his first Halloween the year before, but for this time around I'd found a little hat to go with it at the Hallmark store and added that.  He was as happy as a clam being a "PUH'-kin" (big emphasis on the first syllable) for the second year in a row.  (You may recognize this costume from my Oct. 23 post; in 1988, it was recycled and worn again by son #4.)

Now for son #2's costume.  You can't imagine how excited I was while I was making that costume for my baby boy, thinking that he was going to be the cutest little trick-or-treater on the block.  I'd found the black-and-white-striped knit material and immediately thought "zebra costume!"  And in case the stripes weren't a dead giveaway, I figured once I added those cute ears to the hood of the little hooded top, it would be patently obvious to anyone with half a brain that of course my little guy was supposed to be a zebra.

"What's he supposed to be?" asked my friend (the gal who was my best friend among the young Navy wives with whom I hung out during those Jacksonville, FL years), with a truly puzzled look on her face.
"What do you mean?  Can't you tell?"
"Um..."
"You can't be serious!" I said.
"Let's see...is he a jailbird bunny?" she asked, laughing.

At that point, I realized two things: 1) the ears I'd made were too big for zebra's ears; and 2) I should have added a black felt mane to the hood.  But it was too late for that, so my sweet angel took to the streets in a jailbird bunny costume.  (Dear readers, I must know: at first glance, did you realize that he was supposed to be a zebra?  Or were you as confused as my friend?)

The very next year, 1986, the jailbird bunny costume made another appearance, on son #3 (6 mos.):

Notice I hadn't gotten around to adding the zebra's mane yet..Guess I was sort of busy,
with three boys aged 3 and under!

Son #1 (3) dressed up as an Army man that year--which was sort of prophetic, because although his dad was a Naval aviator, this son is now a Chinook pilot and captain in the US Army.  Son #2 (21 mos.) was Superman, of course--or as he liked to say, "Soup-in-man."  I love these costumes because they're really p.j.'s--and they got lots of wear, long after the trick-or-treating was over.  (The Soup-in-man cape was attached with Velcro and could be removed at bedtime.)  Those were my favorite kinds of costumes: ones that could be recycled later on, or that could double as sleepwear.  Waste not, want not; that was my credo.

I also liked costumes with animal ears...even this one, which apparently didn't scream "CUTE LITTLE ZEBRA" as loudly as I'd thought it would.

C'mon!  He's a zebra!  Anyone can see that...right?

Well, I guess that's it for this Halloween costume commemorative series.  It has been a delightful experience for me, and I hope "my girls" have enjoyed seeing their guys as cute little trick-or-treaters.  Now it's time to go back to coming up with something original to blog about every day.  (Scary!)